In the News

Marathon Drugs Increases Price 70-Fold – 2/10/17 More predation by pharma. Marathon has gotten a decades old muscular dystrophy drug, deflazacort, approved and is charging $89,000 a year for it. It’s price in Europe is under $1500/year. Where are the free market forces? Why aren’t our elected officials protecting us from this egregious practice?

Promising New Prostate Cancer Treatment – 2/2/17 A new and very effective prostate cancer treatment, reported here, has a two-year relapse rate of around 25%. Though clearly not a cure, it has a major benefit in that, unlike all other treatments, it has no. Light fibres are inserted in the prostate, rather like a biopsy, and a light-sensitive drug is administered. The cancerous tissue is killed, and all else left alone. Would certainly be worth a try.

Hypertension Developing Late in Life Halves Onset of Dementia – 1/21/17 Research here indicate that people who develop hypertension in late in life has almost half the reate of dementia. Yet more proof that hypertension has a purpose and unless it is off the charts, is best left alone.

Lowest Stroke Rates in Older Baby Boomers; Younger People Rising– 9/12/16 reports the American Heart Association, here. There could be numerous factors at work. Less smoking among the baby boomers and less healthy diet among the young would be our guess.

Sugar Lobby Promotes Sugar– 11/13/16 Surreal. JAMA reports here that the sugar lobby has been systematically attempting to put the blame for heart diseases on something other than sugar. What were they supposed to do? They’re the sugar lobby. The real question is, “Why did Standard Medicine buy it?”

Zika Breakthrough– 8/30/16 Reported here and elsewhere, two existing (already approved) drugs appear to be effective against Zika. If this pans out, it will speed things up immeasurably.

AHA Limits Added Sugar– 8/17/16 A sensible recommendation from the American Heart Association limits sugar for children aged 2-18 to fewer than 6 teaspoons a day. Paper here. A better recommendation: Fewer than 0 teaspoons added sugar per day for all children aged 0-110.

Calcium Supplements Linked to Dementia– 8/17/16 A report in the journal Neurology, here, links calcium supplements to dementia in some groups of women. The risk, alarmingly, is double for this group.

Suppression of Antioxidants Kills Pancreatic Cancer cells– 7/28/16 Researchers at Cold Springs Harbor Labs find that antioxidants are, in some cases, aiding cancer, and by suppressing the antioxidants, the oxidants are then able to kill the cancer. Link here.

High Cholesterol Found to be Cancer Protective– 7/9/16 A study presented at a British Cardiovascular Society Conference, link here, finds that high cholesterol is significantly protective for four common cancers: breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal. Reasons for this are unknown.

Zinc Acetate Lozenges Reduce Length of Common Cold– 7/6/16 Zinc for a cold is a Dr. Mike favorite. Here’s some science to back it up. A study published here finds that Zinc Acetate Lozenges shorten common colds by three days.

BMJ Article: Bad Cholesterol Isn’t Bad After All– 6/13/16 This is huge. In BMJ Open, here, a peer reviewed study finds that high “bad” cholesterol, aka LDL-cholesterol, is inversely associated with mortality. Higher levels=less death. The stuff is good for you. This is heresy of the first water. Expect a huge blow-back. The lipid hypothysis—that high LDL cholesterol causes heart disease—is ingrained in the medical community like an eleventh commandment. It has never been proven, and kudos to BMJ for daring to run this article. (We would crow that we have repeatedly posted that the dangers of LDL cholesterol were nonexistent, but we will be nice and refrain.)

Stem Cell Injection Reversed Strokes– 6/6/16 At Stanford, reported here, stroke patients receiving injection of mesenchymal stem cells directly into the brain experienced, in some cases, dramatic improvement. If this research holds up, this is an astounding result. “This wasn’t just, ‘They couldn’t move their thumb, and now they can.’ Patients who were in wheelchairs are walking now,” said lead researcher Steinberg.

Bariactric Surgery Now Recommended for Diabetes– 5/26/16 The American Diabetes Association (ADA), and other groups, have now endorsed bariactric surgery (stomach stapling) as a treatment for adult onset or type 2 diabetes (ADOM). We are not making this up. Report here. Of course the ADA dietary recommendations are almost guaranteed to prolong AODM, so we suppose some sort of strange logic is at work here. For the surgery-free, drug-free Quantitative Medicine method, click here.

Low Salt May Be Dangerous – 5/20/16 The prestigious British journal Lancet reports here that low salt intake is more dangerous than high intake. This is heresy, of course, and the article, the magazine, and the authors have already been condemned and will be burnt at the stake. The QM view is that high salt intake is a fairly minor factor. In this article, high intake is worse only for those with high blood pressure, whereas low salt intake is dangerous to those with high blood pressure, and those with normal blood pressure. Again, standard-practice medicine has been making things worse.

JAMA Discovers QM – 5/19/16 The prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports here that secession of of smoking, non-heavy drinking, and exercise reduce cancer. Now while it’s wonderful that they have now seen the light, or at least are circling around it, hasn’t this been obvious for the last 50 years? They studied only white males. Are they setting us up for a sequel? Let’s spoil that one: it works for everybody.

Calcium/Vitamin D Causes a Stroke or Heart Attack for Each Fracture prevented – 5/12/16 From a Norwegian study reported here, “Our analysis shows that if 100,000 65-year-old women take 1000 mg calcium every day, 5890 hip fractures and 3820 other fractures would be prevented. On the other hand, as many as 5917 heart attacks and 4373 strokes could be caused.” A horrid tradeoff made worse by the fact that osteoporosis is easily prevented and reversed with no supplements needed. See posts here, here, and here

Medical Error Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. – 5/3/16 This is not news. As a leading cause of death in hospitals,medical error has been a focal area for almost 20 years. However, findings published here in the British Medical Journal.indicate the the problem is far from solved. Deaths due to medical error represent around 10% of deaths, some 250,000. One problem, according to the article, is that adequate records aren’t kept: the deaths are often attributed to something else. Best strategy: stay out of hospitals.

Big Pharma to World: Take Something! – 4/21/16 From JAMA, here, a trial was conducted for patients who couldn’t tolerate stains.(42%, in fact). The “solution” was to give them ezetimibe, a drug with no known benefit and some probably harm, a drug currently approved for a very, very narrow cohort of off-the-charts high cholesterol. Only 27% could not stand this drug, so the trial was considered a success. The drug industry seems insistent on cramming ezetimibe down our throats. To even embark on this strange experiment shows a callousness and disregard for patient benefit that surprises even us.

Is Fructose Highly Dangerous? – 4/21/16 Maybe. From UCLA we have a finding that fructose is linked to detrimental changes to hundreds of brain genes. Press release here. Scary stuff, and it makes some sense. The body goes to a lot of trouble to keep dietary fructose out of circulation, converting most of it to a concentrated form of glucose called glycogen, and rapidly removing any excess that does get into circulation. The reason for this aversion to fructose is not known, but the research sited above may provide a significant clue. Besides a major sugar component of fruit, table sugar is a 50-50 mix of fructose and glucose, as is high-fructose corn syrup, a ubiquitous food additive.

Are Proton Pump Inhibitors Overprescribed? – 4/15/16 A new report In the Journal of the American Society of Nephrolog seems to indicate that long term use of proton pump inhibitors, which significant reduce stomach acidity, causes increased kidney disease. Such drugs are widely prescribed and are also available over-the-counter. Though likely safe for short-term use, longer term consumption seems to have problems.

FDA Pulls Plug on Combo Drug – 4/15/16 In a rare glimmer of sanity, the FDA has withdrawn approval on a drug called Niaspan, which is a combination of statins and niacin. The approval was made in 1997. Given that is know that statins are practically useless, and that niacin actually increases heart problems, you may wonder what they were waiting for. So do we.Might they now consider the rest of the dangerous drugs out there? Details here.

Interesting Alzheimer’s-Insulin Result – 4/13/16 An NYU business school researcher has connected some interesting dots. It is well know that high insulin is involved in Alzheimers, but the connection wasn’t clear. It seems that the enzyme that breaks down insulin is the same one that breaks down amyloid-beta plaque, the tangled mess that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Schiller’s idea is that perhaps the all the enzyme resources are spent on the high insulin, and the amyoid-beta doesn’t get removed. Details here.

Another Early Cancer Detection Breakthrough – 4/8/16 Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, have created an optical biosensor for cancer detection that is a million times more sensitive than previous versions, pointing the way toward an effective early detection system for cancer and other illnesses.This might greatly improve early detection, which is ket to fighting cancer.Details here.

Choral Singing May Reduce Cancer – 4/5/16Researchers in Wales have determined that choral group singing improves levels of several anti-cancer hormones and biochemicals. Paper can be found here. In view of the next news item, the song Java Jive should probably be included in the repertoire.

Coffee Reduces Colorectal Cancer 50% – 4/1/16 Researchers at USC report “We found that drinking coffee is associated with lower risk of colorectal cancer, and the more coffee consumed, the lower the risk.” The press release is here. Dramatics reductions of up to 50% were seen. This area has been controversial for 20 years. The mechanism of cancer prevention is unknown, though it doesn’t seem to be caffeine, as decaf works as well.

Early Cancer Detection Breakthrough – 3/29/16Researchers at UCLA have developed a PET probe capable of producing far better images in certain types of cancers. With cancer, early detection is key. Clinical trials of the procedure may begin this year. Further info here.

Blonds Found to Be Non-Dumb – 3/23/16 A study here has found that blonds have a slightly higher IQ that non-blond people.Quoting,”Blonde women have a higher mean IQ than women with brown, red and black hair. Blondes are more likely classified as geniuses and less likely to have extremely low IQ.” It is hard to predict what researchers will think of to do research on. How about: “Do Blonds Have More Fun?”

Meal Time More Important Than Previously Thought – 3/17/16 Every traveler know that disrupting the circadian rhythm—the sleep cycle— is no picnic. New research from the Weizmann Institute indicates that not only is the body locked into this cycle, but even our mitochondria are. Mitochondria are tiny bacterial like cells found within almost all our own cells that convert the food we eat to energy. They apparently have time-driven hungry states, wherein they are ready and willing to convert the food to energy, and sleepy state as well. This means having meals at a regular time is more critical than previously thought.

Alzheimer’s and Brain Research – 3/17/16 There are almost daily reports of discoveries or possible breakthroughs involving Alzheimer’s and the brain. Just today, there are three such reports, all on mice, and so it is unknown if the results would carry over. There are reports of new neurons grown from stem cells, lost memories reactivate through light flashes, and increasing available neural energy by injecting pyruvate, an intermediate of glucose metabolism. A very active area.

Antidepressants Increase Mortality – 3/16/16 A study from Auburn and University of Alabama show a slight increase in mortality with uses of second generation anti-depressants.Report here. Knowledge of this will likely offset any anti-depression benefit as well. I much stronger anti-depressant that features a very strong reduction of mortality is exercise.

Canadian Medicine Discovers Exercise – 3/14/16 Canadian Medical Association announces: “Many doctors and their patients aren’t aware that exercise is a treatment for these chronic conditions and can provide as much benefit as drugs or surgery, and typically with fewer harms.” Not really. It actually provides A LOT MORE benefit. Bit it’s a step for organized medicine. Next week: hot water.

Exercise Reduces Alzheimer’s 50% – 3/11/16 No surprise at our end. But here, another study demonstrates the most effect way to prevent Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s Caused By Microbes? – 3/10/16 Researchers have reported that a virus and two types of bacteria are a major cause of Alzheimers. A microbial connection has been (and probably will remain) controversial. However, the causes of Alzheimer’s are not known.

Magic Pill Announced – 3/4/16 Drug companies adore lifelong drugs, and the latest “breakthrough” combines statins, blood pressure reducers, aspirin, and adult onset diabetes medication, and is called a Polypill. However none of these four have shown any mortality benefit, and all of them have serious side effects. But in combination, they are suddenly magical? The idea seems to be to get rid of screening and blood testa altogether, and put everyone over 50 on this pill. This idea is so bad, it would be praising it to call it crazy.

Breast Cancer Breakthrough – 3/3/16 A new drug combo is very effective against the HER-2 variant of breast cancer. A fourth of those treated saw dramatic reduction in tumor size, while in an additional 11% the tumor completely disappeared, in under two weeks. Details here.

Television Exposure Directly Linked To A Thin Body Ideal In Women – 2/22/16 The only real question here is: Are they paying grown-ups to come up with this? It’s a real study. Details here. What will they study next? How about: Driving Blindfolded May Increase Accident Risk.

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Veganism

VEGANISM – HEALTH ISSUES

Veganism is such a hot potato, we are reluctant to deal with it. However, there is so much deliberate misinformation being spread that we feel obliged.

You may gather from that remark we are not big advocates, especially with our numerous other posts suggesting that sugars and starches, whole grain or otherwise, ought to be avoided.

Let us try to separate two aspects of this topic that are frequently entangled and cause much confusion.

One aspect is the ethical/political. Here one talks of efficient land usage, sparing animals, sustainability, religious beliefs, and considerations such as this. These are personal beliefs and we are not commenting except to say that if you are choosing to be a vegetarian, you are making a potentially significant personal health sacrifice. And if you are choosing to go on and become a vegan, you are making a dangerous one. Beyond the value issues there is little to support most of the sustainability claims; they are another in a long line of issues that commit what I call the “Malthusian Fallacy.”

However, if someone choses vegetarianism or veganism solely for nutritional reasons, they were very poorly informed. To claim it is better from a nutritional point of view is a big stretch, especially veganism. Unfortunately, this big stretch is often proffered, especially to garner support for the nutritionally unrelated aspects.

While a vegetarian may eat eggs or dairy product, veganism is a diet with animal product completely absent. It is very difficult to thrive on this diet. A variety of supplements are needed to avoid serious deficiencies and no one knows if the current list is sufficient.

Lets look at some supportable facts regarding all cause mortality and various lifestyle choices:

Both groups have significantly lower mortality rate than the general population.

Vegans also have a lower mortality rate than the general population

This fact is frequently trumpeted as proof that a vegan lifestyle is better for you.

But here’s the rub, and it’s a big one, vegans have increased mortality compared to both health conscious vegetarian and non-vegetarian groups.

Here is some detail about the above assertions in a paper by Chang-Claude et al., which can be found here. The standard mortality ratio for the health conscious vegetarians and non-vegetarians was about 50%. This means that in a given period, only half as many died compared to the general population. (Health consciousness pays off.) For the vegans, the number was 60%. Better than the general population, but not as good as the two health conscious groups. Here are two possible headlines:

Both headlines are true. It is just a question of who gets compared to the vegans. The person writing the headline decides the spin.

Likewise you will see claims of lower ischemia or lower colon cancer for vegans. Sorry, but if overall mortality is higher, it means people died of something else, and overall more died. That’s just how overall mortality works.

Finally, someone may throw the Book at us, the Book being the China Study, the so-called Vegan Bible. This book claims to prove once and for all that animal products are bad. We have obtained the data on which the book was based, and the data tells a completely opposite story. If you would like to see a post on that, complete with numbers and graphs, leave a comment below.

What is the reason for the higher mortality rate among vegans?. It is, in part, already known. There are certain things that we need that occur only in animal product. Particularly, most vegans know and supplement with:

Vitamin B12

Vitamin D

Omega-3 oils

Calcium

If vegans do not take these, they get in trouble. But there is a huge problem here. How do we know that the above four items are sufficient. Or 5, or 6? How do we know that a vegan doesn’t need to take any of the 5,000 other things found only in animal product?

Well the unfortunate answer is that we don’t, and we won’t, until enough vegans turn up with problems to cause some research to be launched.

In fact, the above supplement list wasn’t known at first either. If only became apparent when vegans started getting:

Animal products are attacked form other angles as well. Very often, the unpleasant symptoms noticed when starting a vegan lifestyle are said to be due to the body harboring ‘toxins’ from meat, and that a ‘cleansing’ period is needed. What a bit of Orwellian disinformation! The symptoms are directly due to a deficiency of the necessary nutrients found in meat. There are no toxins involved. It’s nutritional deficiency that is causing the problems.

Is meat toxic? Of course not. It can be though. So can vegetables. Vegetable or meat products raised in unclean environments, with copious use of antibiotics, preservatives, additives, or pesticides are indeed toxic. Vegans and omnivores alike need to choose their food from healthy sources.

Food chosen from healthy sources is not toxic. We are designed to eat a broad variety, and will have deficiencies and problems if that breadth is insufficient. Vegetarians are right at the edge. To be healthy, substantial attention must be paid to the risks from what is essential a high carb, low protein diet. Nutritionally, vegans are beyond the edge and are taking a risk.

Vegans would be well advised to think it through. If there are concerns about the humane treatment of animals, then search for eggs and dairy products produced in humane environments. Don’t unnecessarily do harm.

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6 comments for “Veganism”

Tom

October 25, 2015 at 7:38 pm

There is so much misinformation and bad logic in this post that it’s hard to know where to start. Firstly on the subject of ethics, where “efficient land usage, sparing animals, sustainability” are involved, the “personal beliefs” argument cannot apply. It’s only a personal choice or belief if no one else is affected by your actions. If I wear a red shirt instead of a blue one today, no one is going to suffer, so it’s just a personal choice. But when you’re slaughtering animals, clearly the animal is affected. And all animals, just like us, feel pain and have the instinctual desire to avoid suffering and preserve their health. Everyone realises that their cat or dog can feel pain and emotions, and it’s the same for cows and pigs etc too. What’s more, if animal agriculture is doing tremendous harm to the environment, and it is – http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet – then a choice to eat animal products is not just affecting you, it is causing harm to the entire planet. That affects literally everyone.

On the subject of health, it’s pretty well established now that people who don’t eat meat have numerous health advantages such as less heart disease, diabetes and bowel cancer. I’m not making the argument that eating meat is entirely unhealthy (believe it or not, there are vegans who know that The China Study is not a nutritional bible), but the evidence says that you can be completely healthy while eliminating animal products from your diet. According to the American Dietetic Association, “Well-planned vegan, lacto-vegetarian, and lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy and lactation. Appropriately planned vegan, lacto-vegetarian, and lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets satisfy nutrient needs of infants, children, and adolescents and promote normal growth”. If you look at the World Health Organisation’s latest guidelines for a healthy diet – http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs394/en/ – you’ll see that fish is the only animal product recommended for its unsaturated fats, but it lists other non-animal sources from which you can obtain those.

Furthermore, I’d like to point out that this post is completely unreferenced and needs to prove what it claims. Vegans do need to supplement for B12 (which beats slaughtering innocent animals and doing huge harm to the environment), but the post is completely incorrect on the subject of omega 3, vitamin D (really, how could you claim this one?) and calcium.

The article’s last sentence, however, is one that everyone should take into account: “Do not unnecessarily do harm.” This is the rationale behind veganism. Given that our bodies do not need animal products to be healthy, and since killing and exploiting animals always involves pain and cruelty, it is not morally justifiable to continue to support that harm.

Oops, I forgot about the study that was referenced in the article – http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/14/4/963 – apologies for that! I do think that article is a pretty good advertisement for vegetarianism and veganism. It shows that both represent big improvements compared to the average person’s diet and lifestyle, especially when you also take into account ethical considerations and the impact of animal agriculture on the environment.

I do NOT like veganism and it is not what I wanted to ‘Like’. I wanted to support those who recognise that vegans are doing harm to themselves and, as a consequence, their loved ones who have to watch this deterioration. In my case it is a mid-teens daughter that is saving the planet one sausage at a time but is very obviously ill as a consequence. Trouble is everyone is wrong and she is right. This is not a fad – its an epidemic that will have long term effects on these vegans who refuse to recognise it for what it is.

Michael, sorry about your daughter but it’s not the lack of meat that’s causing her to be ill but rather lack of enough nutrients…need to get sufficient greens, pulses, fruits, nuts, spices in. Also iron supplements if necessary. Do as much research on it and try to help and support your daughter in her choice rather than “those who recognise vegans are doing harm to
themselves.”She is taking a stand for good causes and you should be proud of her. Maybe she doesnt know everything on it yet and no one does but you could help perhaps buying and cooking more beans and veggies.

i am looking into a vegan lifestyle and needed more info on it. the way they are doing meat is hard for me to eat animal products now. but now im hearing about the vegetables and the process it goes through is no better than the meats, its just as harmful, what do you do. in place of nutrients as b12 or omega3,6,9, proteins supplements would that be a good replacement for what u get from meats. i need more information on this matter. i really choose to persue this lifestyle. if you have free links or litature can you email somethings to my address to help me along this journey. thank you!

Look up the black beans vs. beef. Black beans are higher in protein, have less fat, use less Co2 emissions to produce, don’t result in any animals killed or produce methane (even worse than Co2 that cows produce), have no carcinogens, and use far less water. Look it up:)

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Many sites offer nice-sounding advice about nutrition and exercise, but almost none have actually put this advice to work in a large-scale clinical setting. Starting in the late 90s, Dr. Mike Nichols operated a clinic wherein each patient was quantified with blood tests and other measurements, and an optimum diet and exercise regime suggested.
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